When he woke up, the wound on Yu Wenran's shoulder was still burning with pain, but the soreness and fatigue after taking off the armor yesterday had almost subsided.
When he was young and still a prince, he often made long-distance raids like this, leading his troops to gallop non-stop for a day and two nights, single-handedly charging into the enemy camp, beheading the enemy general, and then returning to the camp to sleep without even taking off his armor.
Although I am not as young as I used to be, it is still not as good as going to the battlefield. I will feel sore and tired after such a trip.
Yu Wenran sighed lightly and closed his eyes. After all, he was old and hadn't been on the battlefield for a long time, so even his kung fu skills had become a lot less skilled.
When Gu Yanyue brought in the food, Yuwen Ran had already put on his armor and was fastening his wrist guards.
Gu Yanyue put the food on the table and turned around to call him: "A Ran, come over and have breakfast first."
Yuwen Ran used to dislike breakfast and would usually go to court right after getting dressed. After Gu Yanyue discovered Yuwen Ran's bad habit after traveling through time, she started getting up early with him and only letting him go to court after watching him eat his breakfast.
Under her influence, Yuwen Ran also developed the habit of eating breakfast, and Gu Yanyue also told Yuwen Ran the current saying that one must eat a good breakfast.
Yu Wenran put down the wristband in his hand as he was told, sat down first, and tied the wristband after finishing breakfast with Gu Yanyue.
After using the musket made by Gu Yanyue yesterday, Yuwen Ran suddenly had an idea in his mind. He asked his personal soldiers to invite the generals in other tents to the central tent, saying that he had something to discuss with them.
After the instructions, Yuwen Ran took the cloak from Gu Yanyue. He left the royal tent and carefully inspected the entire camp, confirming that no one had sneaked in, then went to the central tent on the north side.
The generals of each camp had received the military order and gathered in the tent.
Seeing Yuwen Ran enter the tent, a group of people stared at him, their mouths tightly shut, but each of them had a blazing glint in their eyes. They were all waiting for Yuwen Ran to tell them what new and powerful weapon he had used on the battlefield yesterday.
Yuwen Ran took off his cloak, met Du Yuhou's gaze, and put the cloak aside: "I know you are all curious about the weapon I used yesterday. Don't worry, I will tell you slowly later."
The generals were even more anxious after seeing Yuwen Ran's behavior. Yuwen Ran pretended not to notice and turned his gaze to the pile of account books on the other side. "Before I came in, were you looking at the army's account books?"
Du Yuhou looked at him quietly for a while, nodded, and moved the stack of books back to Yuwen Ran.
The account books recorded the military equipment, horses, silver, money and food that the army had in Shuocheng and Fangcheng in recent years. Yuwen Ran attached great importance to the frontier army, and the military pay distributed every year was not too small. However, a lot of money was skimmed off from the top layer by layer, and the actual amount received was almost negligible.
Yuwen Ran closed the account book and closed his eyes. He didn't expect that so much of the military pay had been withheld over the years. It seemed that after he returned to the capital, he would have to send officials to the local area to check the accounts.
Yuwen Ran collected his thoughts, took the books that Du Yuhou had picked out, and flipped through them. "What is our current situation?"
The deputy general called the nearby Du Yuhou several times, then suddenly regained his composure and hurriedly replied with a bow, "Tuoba Chen's iron puppets have retreated to Fangcheng. They should be specifically studying the weapons Your Majesty used on the battlefield yesterday. We must strike first before they make their next move. We just cleared out the horses and found that we are seriously short of them."
Yuwen Ran: "How much more is left?"
Right Guard: "After careful calculation, we are still 20% short."
The left guard was quick in his calculations and quickly figured out: "Seven hundred horses."
Yu Wenran frowned: "How long will it take to gather them all?"
The general of the Divine Cavalry Battalion said, "It won't take too long. Your Majesty, give me three days to gather everything."
Yu Wenran calculated that it would take Gu Yanyue and Bai Youjin about three days to build the mechanism, so he agreed: "Okay, these three days will give Senior Bai and A Yue the time to prepare the mechanism to deal with the iron puppet."
At the mention of mechanical engineering, Du Yuhou and the others instantly perked up, their eyes flashing as they all looked at Yu Wenran. Under everyone's gaze, Du Yuhou spoke: "Your Majesty, is the mechanical device that the Empress and that senior made the same one you used on the battlefield yesterday?"
Yu Wenran wanted to tease them, so he shook his head and said, "No..."
Yu Wenran suddenly changed the subject, "But it's more lethal than that."
The corners of the generals' mouths, which had just relaxed a second ago, rose again the next second. Even more powerful than the one from yesterday, didn't it mean that the iron golem that had beaten them away in the past would soon be beaten away by them in the same turn?
Three days passed quickly. Gu Yanyue and Bai Youjin immersed themselves in the art of mechanisms these days. Since Gu Yanyue joined Bai Youjin's camp three days ago, she has never stepped out of the room. Her daily meals were delivered by soldiers.
Gu Yanyue and Bai Youjin also took some time out of the city and buried a lot of "good things" at the foot of Fangcheng City under the cover of night.
Three days later, before daybreak, the army left the city.
The army's marching speed was not slow. They stopped 300 meters outside the trap set by Gu Yanyue.
The Iron Golem had already seen Yuwen Ran and his army marching to within ten miles of Fangcheng, and hurriedly strode down the city gate, "General, the Central Plains army is invading!"
Someone below the city immediately responded and blew a long whistle, which echoed throughout the camp.
Tuoba Chen, who was still unconscious, heard the whistle and immediately stood up and put on his boots quickly. With extremely quick and neat movements, he fastened his clothes and armor, found his wrist guard and put it on tightly, picked up his sword and left the tent.
The people of the Western Regions were warlike, and within a short while, the sounds of weapons and armor could be heard outside the tent, and the ground was shaking slightly as horses' hooves stepped on it.
When Yuwen Ran stopped, the portcullis of the city gate slammed open, and Tuoba Chen rushed out on horseback with the elite iron puppets. However, what greeted Tuoba Chen was not the gentle morning breeze, but a flaming arrow.
Tuoba Chen reacted extremely quickly and barely dodged the arrow. He knew that it was Yuwen Ran's revenge for the arrow he had shot at him on the battlefield a few days ago.
Moreover, he shot the arrow openly in front of Tuoba Chen, which was different from Tuoba Chen's sneaky shooting a few days ago.
Unexpectedly, after riding for a short while, the horse's hooves suddenly sank into the ground.
The hook horses used by the iron golems were fast, and the cavalry in front were tripped and fell off their horses. The cavalry behind had no time to rein in their horses and were immediately crashed into, and all of them fell together at once.
Tuoba Chen rolled into the desert and saw the newly dug horse traps on the ground, as well as mechanical weapons that he could not name.
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